British Phone Hacking Scandal (Leveson Report)

Pool photo by Ian Nicholson

News about the British phone hacking scandal (Leveson Report), including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Oct. 16, 2014

Charles Brooks, husband of Rebekah Brooks, seeks to be reimbursed for legal costs of his defense after being acquitted from Britain's phone hacking scandal by claiming he was too 'stupid' to commit crime; is denied payment by Justice John Saunders, who rules that Brooks is not entitled to anything because of his clumsily suspicious behavior. MORE

Jun. 25, 2014

Rebekah Brooks, former head of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper empire, is acquitted of all charges in Britain's phone-hacking trial; Brooks had come to symbolize freewheeling tabloid press and its proximity to power; Brooks's former lover Andy Coulson is found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voice mails, and is the only one of the seven defendants in the case to be convicted. MORE

Jun. 11, 2014

British phone hacking case of Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former lovers and tabloid editors of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct weekly News of the World, heads to jury; the two face charges linked to illegal interception of voice mail messages and are also accused of condoning payments to public officials for information; jurors have up to a month to reach a decision. MORE

May. 15, 2014

Clive Goodman, former royalty editor of The News of the World, testifies at long-running phone-hacking trial that he had listened to voice mails of former Kate Middleton, Prince William and Prince Harry. MORE

Mar. 6, 2014

Testimony of former tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks in her phone hacking trial offers a rare view into the skating-on-the-edge culture of popular press in Great Britain, one that fascinates and revolts Britons in equal measure; she is accused of condoning illegal interception of mobile phone voice mail messages as editor of The News of the World, sensational weekly that Rupert Murdoch shut down over scandal. MORE

Feb. 27, 2014

Rebekah Brooks is revealing tabloid-like details about her personal life during her trial in London on phone hacking charges; denies knowledge of the practice at the now defunct The News of the World, where she was top editor; her testimony makes her look fallible, like people once exposed by her paper, but also vulnerable. MORE

Feb. 21, 2014

Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper unit, testifies in court that during her time as editor of tabloid The News of the World she did not know about activities of private investigator who has admitted that he hacked phones on behalf of the newspaper. MORE

Feb. 20, 2014

E-mail disclosed at British phone hacking trial of Rebekah Brooks, former head of Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire, suggests that former prime minister Tony Blair offered to act as an 'unofficial adviser' to Brooks and to Murdoch. MORE

Dec. 3, 2013

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, once friends, colleagues and lovers, are on trial in London on charges of illegally intercepting voice messages as editors at Rupert Murdoch's defunct The News of the World; Brooks, wealthy from a rich severance package, appears to be faring relatively better than Coulson, who is short of cash and out of work for nearly three years. MORE

Nov. 5, 2013

Lawyer for Andy Coulson, former editor of defunct British tabloid News of the World, tells jury that Coulson never agreed to any illegal phone hacking at the newspaper; Coulson is on trial with his former boss and onetime lover Rebekah Brooks and six others on a variety of charges involving the tabloid's cellphone hacking. MORE

Nov. 3, 2013

Maureen Dowd Op-Ed column notes irony of the fact that British tabloid editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks had their secret affair exposed during trial in which they were charged with breaking the law to expose others' intimate secrets; reflects on the allure and romance of adultery and affairs in the wired world. MORE

Nov. 2, 2013

Jury in Britain's phone hacking scandal hears evidence that now defunct tabloid newspaper The News of the World hacked into Prince Harry's cellphone in 2005 to write article about how he had sought help on term paper from his private secretary. MORE

Nov. 1, 2013

Phone hacking trial of The News of The World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson in Britain turns considerably seamier when the prosecution reveals they had an affair lasting more than six years, during the period at issue in the trial; both are charged with overseeing a pattern of phone hacking and other illegal efforts to obtain details of the lives of prominent people. MORE

Oct. 31, 2013

British prosecution opens case at phone hacking trial, telling jury that four people involved with The News of the World had already pleaded guilty to phone hacking and that it will proven that illegal acts were 'a conspiracy' approved by some of those on trial now, including former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. MORE

Feb. 14, 2013

Scotland Yard says six more journalists who previously worked for News of the World have been arrested on suspicion of hacking into cellphone messages, adding momentum to police investigation that has already cost Rupert Murdoch's newspaper empire in Britain hundreds of millions of dollars. MORE

Feb. 2, 2013

April Casburn, senior police officer in Scotland Yard’s counterterrorism command, is sentenced to 15-month prison term for seeking cash payments from Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid in connection with phone hacking scandal. MORE

Sep. 27, 2012

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, two senior former executives at newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch, appear in court in London facing charges relating to the phone hacking scandal convulsing parts of the British press. MORE

Aug. 17, 2012

Andy Coulson, the former communications director for British Prime Min David Cameron and a onetime top editor of tabloid News of the World, appears in court with six other people to face charges in the long-running hacking scandal. MORE

Jul. 25, 2012

Decision by British prosecutors to lay criminal charges against eight of the most prominent figures in British tabloid journalism, including Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, is a dramatic step toward exacting accountability for the tangled web of wrongdoing in Rupert Murdoch's London newsrooms; media analysts say that the newsroom culture that has gone untrammeled for years at British tabloids could be a casualty of a new culture of caution. MORE

Jul. 5, 2012

Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator who has been a central player in Britain’s phone hacking scandal loses a bid at the Supreme Court to remain silent about who commissioned him to intercept voice mail messages on behalf of The News of the World; he had argued that he had a right to remain silent about who commissioned him to avoid self-incrimination. MORE

May. 31, 2012

Andy Coulson, a former tabloid editor in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and later director of communications for Prime Min David Cameron, is arrested by the Scottish police and charged with lying under oath about whether he knew phone hacking was going on at the newspaper he edited, The News of the World. MORE

May. 11, 2012

Andy Coulson, a former editor of The News of the World Sunday tabloid who later became British Prime Min David Cameron’s communications director, testifies at the judicial inquiry into the phone hacking scandal that has enveloped Rupert Murdoch's media empire; testimony does not reveal any intimate links between Murdoch's business interest and Cameron's government, as many had suspected. MORE

May. 2, 2012

British parliamentary panel's report on the News Corporation phone-hacking scandal concludes that Daily News editor Colin Myler misled them about his knowledge of the illegal behavior, putting him at risk of being cited for contempt of Parliament; Myler, a British citizen, was editor of News of the World until it was closed in 2011. MORE

Apr. 16, 2012

British lawyer Mark Lewis is one of a small handful of attorneys who have led the civil litigation against News Corporation over suspected phone hacking at its now-closed News of the World tabloid; the scandal has not jumped to the United States, but Lewis is holding meetings in New York to look into filing at least three suits related to the hacking. MORE

Mar. 15, 2012

Scotland Yard arrests Neville Thurlbeck, a former chief reporter for The News of the World, on suspicion of intimidating a witness, the first time the police have raised the specter of witness tampering in the course of their investigations; it could prove to be one of the most damaging chapters yet in the scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers in Britain. MORE

Mar. 14, 2012

Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, is arrested in London on suspicion of obstruction of justice in connection with ongoing investigation into phone hacking and other illegal activities at several News Corp newspapers; her husband, Charlie, a friend of Prime Min David Cameron, is also arrested. MORE

Feb. 29, 2012

British tabloids eagerly print the story of Scotland Yard lending a retired police horse to former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, during a period when Rupert Murdoch's tabloids were under investigation for illegal phone hacking; loan, while not illegal, demonstrates the cozy relationship enjoyed between Murdoch's papers and the police. MORE

Feb. 12, 2012

E-mail discovered in November 2011, has become the focus of investigation into the News of The World's phone hacking scandal; document contains explosive information about the scale of the scandal, and sheds light on the intrigue surrounding James Murdoch, the company's heir apparent, and efforts to protect him from the scandal. MORE

Feb. 8, 2012

Scotland Yard formally acknowledges that it acted unlawfully in 2006 and 2007 in failing to notify hundreds of individuals targeted by The News of the World as it hacked into the cellphone voice mail messages of politicians, sports stars and other celebrities. MORE

Feb. 2, 2012

E-mail to Rupert Murdoch’s son James that was part of a chain of messages in 2008 warning of potential legal fallout from hacking at tabloid News of the World was deleted from his computer less than a week before the police opened their current investigation into phone hacking; intimations that the company may have purposely destroyed evidence raise questions about whether it may be investigated for obstruction of justice. MORE

Jan. 8, 2012

Scotland Yard's arrest of Cheryl Carter, a one-time personal assistant to former News Corp executive Rebekah Brooks, appears to reflect an intensifying focus on the possibility of a cover-up by executives, editors and others of the extent of illegal phone hacking and other criminal wrongdoing at now-defunct tabloid News of the World. MORE

Dec. 16, 2011

Lucy Panton, a former crime editor for News of the World, is arrested as part of an investigation into illegal payments to the police by employees of Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid. MORE

Dec. 14, 2011

Chain of e-mail messages backs up accounts of former News Corporation executives that corporation head James R Murdoch had been notified of widespread phone hacking at British tabloid News of the World long before he has admitted; messages were sent to British parliamentary panel as part of an internal investigation by News International, the tabloid's parent company. MORE

Dec. 13, 2011

London police say defunct tabloid News of the World, which Rupert Murdoch’s media empire shut down amid a phone hacking scandal, may not have been responsible for deleting voice mail messages from a missing schoolgirl’s cellphone; contend that message were being dropped automatically from mailbox after 72 hours. MORE

Dec. 1, 2011

British investigators arrest former News of the World reporter Bethany Usher and accuse her of conspiring to hack into people's cellphones; arrest is part of the investigation into the interception of voice mail messages by reporters and editors at the now defunct tabloid. MORE

Nov. 30, 2011

Former News of the World deputy editor Paul McMullan, in testimony before British judicial inquiry, brazenly admits to laundry list of dubious news-gathering techniques, including phone hacking, theft of confidential documents and rifling through celebrities' garbage cans; says acts were committed at behest of his editors, specifically Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, who have not yet been charged with wrongdoing. MORE

Nov. 28, 2011

David Carr The Media Equation column examines case of Amelia Hill, a reporter for The Guardian in Britain who helped expose phone hacking by British newspapers and subsequently found herself questioned by police; notes inquiry is concluded, but Hill anxiously awaits whether prosecutors will proceed with case. MORE

Nov. 26, 2011

British government-appointed inquiry into the culture and practices of British newspapers is the culmination of the phone-hacking scandal that enveloped Rupert Murdoch's global media empire through the wrongdoing of the tabloid The News of the World; the inquiry's hearings have broadened to include all mass-circulation tabloids, with victims of tabloid excesses recounting miseries they have endured. MORE

Nov. 22, 2011

Testimony from actor Hugh Grant raises new accusations of tabloid misconduct that broadens debate to include all of the mass-circulation British tabloids, not just those owned by the News Corporation; Grant testifies for two hours before an official inquiry in London into press practices, claiming that tabloids broke into his home, accessed medical records and menaced his family. MORE

Nov. 17, 2011

David Sherborne, the lawyer representing 51 people who say they were victims of phone hacking and press intrusion by The News of the World, offers details on the methods used by the tabloid's employees at a hearing called to examine press ethics in the wake of the scandal that shook the British news media. MORE

Nov. 15, 2011

Government-commissioned inquiry into Britain’s journalistic practices opens, with its chief lawyer delivering a series of bombshell revelations about rampant illegal activity at defunct News of the World tabloid; evidence shows that hacking occurred at other tabloids under umbrella of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation as well. MORE

Nov. 12, 2011

James Murdoch is locked in a high-stakes battle of wills with former editor of The News of the World, Colin Myler and the tabloid's former legal manager, Tom Crone; both characterize Murdoch's testimony before a parliamentary panel investigating allegations of phone hacking as 'calculated' and 'disingenuous'; with equal vehemence, the two men insist that they informed him of more widespread criminal practices at the paper in 2008. MORE

Nov. 8, 2011

Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group confirms that News of the World, since closed, hired a detective to spy on two lawyers representing victims in the phone hacking scandal and their families. MORE

Nov. 5, 2011

Journalist identified as Jamie Pyatt, a senior correspondent with the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid The Sun, is arrested on suspicion of making illegal payments to police officers; arrest is a sign that the phone hacking scandal has spread beyond the News of the World to other papers in Murdoch's British media empire. MORE

Nov. 2, 2011

British lawmakers publish internal documents from Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct tabloid The News of the World, raising further questions over the extent to which the phone hacking scandal was covered up. MORE

Nov. 1, 2011

Phones of Surrey police officers were probably hacked as they investigated the 2002 disappearance of Millie Dowler, the teenage girl whose case is among the most disturbing to have emerged from Britain’s phone hacking scandal. MORE

Oct. 25, 2011

Former News International chairman Les Hinton testifies in parliamentary committee addressing phone hacking scandal; denies any wrongdoing and says phone hacking was restricted to single reporter Clive Goodman, who was jailed for the practice in 2007. MORE

Oct. 22, 2011

Court papers released in connection with one of dozens of lawsuits that have emerged from the phone hacking scandal that has shaken Rupert Murdoch's media empire reveal that a private detective working for the News of the World cited information from a highly classified intelligence file kept on London nightclub owner Guy Pelly, a close friend of the royal family. MORE

Oct. 20, 2011

Former News International lawyer Julian Pike tells British lawmakers that company knew as early as 2008 that phone hacking was widespread at now defunct newspaper The News of the World. MORE

{"type":"article","show_header_text":false,"header":"ARTICLES ABOUT NEWS OF THE WORLD PHONE-HACKING SCANDAL","query":"(org=\"News of the World\" or (des=\"Wiretapping and other Eavesdropping Devices and Methods\" and (body=\"Milly Dowler\" or body=\"Rebekah Brooks\" or body=\"Glenn Mulcaire\" or body=\"Andy Coulson\" or body=\"Clive Goodman\" or body=\"Colin Myler\" or body=\"Les Hinton\" or body=\"Neville Thurlbeck\" or body=\"Ian Edmondson\"))) and tom!=\"Caption\" and tom!=\"Correction\" and tom!=\"List\" and tom!=\"Paid Death Notice\" and hdl!=\"Paid Notice\" and dsk!=\"Society\"","search_query":"(organizations:\"News of the World\" OR (subject:\"Wiretapping and other Eavesdropping Devices and Methods\" AND (body:\"Milly Dowler\" OR body:\"Rebekah Brooks\" OR body:\"Glenn Mulcaire\" OR body:\"Andy Coulson\" OR body:\"Clive Goodman\" OR body:\"Colin Myler\" OR body:\"Les Hinton\" OR body:\"Neville Thurlbeck\" OR body:\"Ian Edmondson\"))) AND -type_of_material:\"Caption\" AND -type_of_material:\"Correction\" AND -type_of_material:\"List\" AND -type_of_material:\"Paid Death Notice\" AND -headline:\"Paid Notice\" AND -news_desk:\"Society\"","num_search_articles":"15","show_summary":true,"show_byline":true,"show_pub_date":true,"hide_thumbnails":false,"show_kicker":false,"show_title":false,"show_related_topics":true,"show_rad_links":true,"show_subtopics":true,"exclude_topics":"NEWS OF THE WORLD","exclude":[""],"more_on_header":"MORE ON NEWS OF THE WORLD PHONE-HACKING SCANDAL AND:","alternate_index_subidx":"","show_thumbnails":true}

Multimedia

A history of events surrounding the long-simmering investigation that forced the closing of The News of the World and the collapse of a $12 billion bid to assume full control of Britain’s biggest satellite broadcaster.

What began as an investigation into journalists from a British tabloid listening to the voice mail messages of celebrities has now widened to include much more serious allegations: that the newspaper paid police offices for information and even interfered with a murder investigation.

British Phone Hacking Scandal Navigator

A list of resources from around the Web about the British Phone Hacking Scandal as selected by researchers and editors of The New York Times.